League's growth has opened doors
Seniors Seimone Augustus, Monique Currie, and Cappie Pondexter had the last 10 years to dream about professional basketball.
However, in 1996, the concept of a professional women's basketball league in the United States was foreign to Rebecca Lobo and Sheryl Swoopes. The two were presented with the idea of the WNBA after winning a gold medal in the 1996 Olympics.
''It started from scratch," said Lobo. ''There was this new pro league and no one knew what to expect."
There were many questions. A summer basketball league? Back-to-back games in different cities?
But the two were convinced the league could work. They became the first players to sign on. Lobo played with the New York Liberty and Swoopes with the Houston Comets.
''I don't think I believed it until I actually signed the contract and thought, 'OK, wow, I'm going to actually get to play professional basketball here in the States,' " said Swoopes. ''It was such a remarkable time for me."
Today, the WNBA will hold its 10th draft at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. The draft will cap a week of festivities that included the NCAA Women's Final Four and the Women's Basketball Coaches Association Convention.
This is the first time the draft is being held outside the NBA TV studios in New Jersey. An estimated 20 prospects have been invited by the WNBA to attend.
The Minnesota Lynx have the first selection and are expected to take Augustus, a Louisiana State guard and two-time national player of the year. Currie, a guard/forward at Duke, and Pondexter, a Rutgers guard, are both fifth-year seniors and projected to go in the top five.
There will be 14 selections in each of the three rounds. The first round will be televised on ESPN2 and the second and third rounds will air on ESPNU and NBA TV.
Former and current players have been pleased with how the league has grown in the last decade.
''Unlike the uncertainty that we had, these kids have grown up watching the WNBA," Lobo said. ''They don't know anything different. So this is something that they've had as a goal, and a dream. The league has come a tremendously long way in a short period of time."
Notre Dame associate women's basketball coach Coquese Washington was the first president of the players association. She played six years in the WNBA before retiring in 2003. To make the WNBA a viable option for players, Washington said, it was important to offer benefits that would be provided in any profession.
''We worked diligently with the league to make this not just about playing but about it being a career opportunity," Washington said. ''We wanted players to have an opportunity to have a profession to call their own."
Players continue to have the option to play overseas in the offseason and many do. But they also can stay stateside, and that is the flexibility Washington enjoyed as she was able to coach and play professional basketball.
Pondexter always has focused on basketball and no matter how it was going to happen she wanted to make a living in the sport.
''Before the WNBA existed I always said I wanted to play professional basketball," Pondexter said. ''It didn't matter if it was the NBA or whatever. I just wanted to play ball. Just to have the opportunity to do so is great."
Swoopes will begin her ninth season with the Comets next month, and said she continues to be excited about her career.
''For me growing up, all I had was the NBA to watch the men play and go to stores and buy NBA jerseys, not that I don't anymore, but it's the fact that the girls now have an option," Swoopes said.
